Talk about getting juiced up!
There are a pair of competing standards for wireless phone and gadget charging. Duracell and Powermat use PMA while Nokia helped developed Qi for use in their Lumia phones. You can also find Qi on Samsung and Nexus devices. It’s one of my favorite convenience features on the 920. I pop it down on the Nokia pad and it charges. No messing with cables, easy peasy.
Well now Nokia’s Qi standard is going to be getting a significant boost in terms of mind share. The group Consumer Electronics for Automotive (CE4A) works with European auto makers to standardize mobile interfaces. They’ve recommended that vehicles implement Qi wireless charging and the big four German auto makers are already on board. They’ll likely also make recommendations on where charging surfaces are placed inside vehicles.
This comes after Toyota has started offering Qi charging in the 2013 Avalon.
If you were backing Powermat’s PMA standard, fret not. GM is set to push their flavor of inductive charging on select cars and trucks as part of an accessories package in 2014.
Full PR after the jump.
Technical committee of automobile manufacturers agrees to joint standard
Wireless energy transmission: New technology will soon charge smartphones in cars
(Gaimersheim, 03. September 2013) The convenience of integrating smartphones into automobiles
will soon clear one of the final hurdles: Qi® is the name of the standard that will describe how mobile
phones can be charged while driving via wireless energy transmission. Experts from Consumer
Electronics for Automotive (CE4A) agreed to this recommendation. CE4A is a working group of
automobile manufacturers founded in 2006 for the purpose of advancing the standardization of
mobile device interfaces. German carmakers like Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen
contribute to CE4A, which operates under the umbrella of the German Association of the Automotive
Industry (VDA).
Data transmission via Bluetooth has already proven its value in automobiles and established itself as
the accepted standard; now wireless charging will remove the final physical connection between
smartphones and cars. The recommendation of CE4A provides that the user must simply place his or
her mobile telephone at a specific location in the vehicle for the charging process to begin
automatically.
Once the battery is fully charged or the smartphone is removed, charging stops automatically as well.
Energy transmission is also interrupted when the distance becomes too great or metal objects come
between the device and the charging station.
The principle of contactless energy transmission is based on electromagnetic induction and is already
used to charge electric toothbrushes, for example. The first Qi®-compliant smartphones are already
on the market.
The CE4A committee has been observing and examining the development of various charging
standards since 2010. The CE4A’s observations, discussions, and workshops focused on, among
others, Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP®), the Power Matters Alliance (PMA®), and the Wireless
Power Consortium (WPC®) with its Qi® standard.
CE4A generated requirements that must be fulfilled for use in automobiles. These relate to
installation space, usage profiles, electromagnetic compatibility, and safety, for example. In addition,
the standard must be ready for future requirements and offer potential for further development and
commercialization as well as have global distribution and the acceptance of handset makers and
wireless providers.
Based on these considerations, CE4A recommended its members to use the Qi® standard in current
and future vehicle models.
Qi® is a standard from the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC®), which currently represents more
than 150 companies, with membership continuing to increase. Any electrical device that fulfils the 2
Qi® standard can be charged wirelessly at any Qi® station. The first vehicles with the Qi® standard
have been on the market since early 2013.
Internet: www.ce4a.org